The Katesgrove Community Allotment at Waterloo Meadows off Elgar Road will run free, tutor-led sessions from 10am until 12 noon on Saturday 13 January, Saturday 10 February, and then weekly from Saturday 3 March.

A PCN (penalty charge notice) robot at Reading Borough Council issued me with a £30 fine in November for driving in the bus lane at the junction of Pell Street and Southampton Street. I contested this on the grounds that I had wanted to turn left into Pell Street, it was mandatory to join the queue in the left-hand lane to do this, and that queue had already backed up into the bus lane. I claimed it was safer to follow standard – and thus predictable – driving practice at this busy and congested junction rather than cause obstruction and confusion by doing otherwise. I added that forcing drivers to choose between an unsafe or obstructive manoeuvre or a bus lane fine was both unreasonable and unwise.

The Whitley Community Development Association (WCDA) elected officers for the coming year at a well-attended annual general meeting on 13 December. Community development co-ordinator Trisha Bennett and funding and finance officer Mo McSevney also explained in detail what the WCDA does and how it has evolved throughout 2017.